This invention relates in general to the protection of fodder, and more particularly to a device and process for covering hay that is gathered into bales to thereby protect the hay from moisture damage.
Most of the hay that is grown and cut in this country is baled for use as fodder during the winter months when cattle have little or no grass upon which to graze. The hay loft of the typical barn was the usual place to store this hay, for the barn protected the hay from the elements, particularly moisture which tends to rot hay. Farm machinery accommodated this end, providing rectangular bales which were easily handled and stacked. Indeed, the typical rectangular hay bale weighed no more than about 50 lbs. and as such could be handled by a single individual and lifted to a hay loft on a conveyor.
Recently, machines have been developed which roll the hay in large cylindrical bales measuring about 6 feet in diameter and weighing as much as 1200 to 1500 lbs. These bales are much too large to store in barns, much less lift into hay lofts. Usually, they are moved with a bale fork from the hay fields to the edges of those fields where they remain available for subsequent use as fodder. Rain and snow penetrate these bales, and over a period of time the hay rots or becomes moldy, particularly immediately beneath the outer layers. Moldy and rotten hay should not be consumed by the cattle since it can have a toxic effect. Thus, toward the end of winter and early spring much of the hay that is stored outdoors is unfit for consumption by the cattle, but this is the time when cows give birth and should have the highest quality fodder.